‘Love Songs to Lost Homelands’
Born 150years ago, the Armenian priest and pioneering ethnomusicologist Komitas Vardapet singlehandedly forged his people’s vast and ancient musical legacy into a coherent collection, encompassing more than 3,000 pieces of folk music. Imprisoned during World War I, he was driven to madness by the Ottoman genocide of the Armenians and spent his final decades in a psychiatric hospital.
Working with the great Armenian folk singer Hasmik Harutyunyan, Kitka celebrates Vardapet’s musical treasure trove with “Gorani: Love Songs to Lost Homelands,” a concert that will be performed at three Bay Area venues this weekend.
In commemorating Vardapet’s landmark achievements, Kitka exchanges the lush, startling harmonies of the Balkans for Armenia’s extended modal lines, melodies grounded to a drone pitch. As an artist who has picked up Vardapet’s mantle, “Hasmik has devoted her life to the performance, preservation and transmission of historical Armenian folk songs,” says vocalist Shira Cion, Kitka’s longtime executive and musical director. “When we listen to Hasmik’s deeply emotive singing, we hear both the tragic history of the Armenian people and an undeniable zest for life and hope for the future.”
By coincidence, the great Armenian-born jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan performs at SFJazz on Oct. 24 with Armenian-American vocalist Areni Agbabian.
Details: 6:30 p.m. today at Schroeder Hall, Green Music Center, Rohnert Park; free; gmc.sonoma.edu/jewish-musicseries-armenia; 8p.m. Friday at St. Vartan Armenian Church, Oakland; $22-$40; 510-444-0323, www.kitka.org; 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Hammer Theatre, San Jose; $30-$45; hammertheatre.com